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By Alyce Collins and Madison Smith
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When I was pregnant with my second child, Colton, everything felt so exciting. I could not wait to give my daughter a younger brother, but little did I know, my family would never be the same again.
Colton was born healthy via Caesarean on March 17, 2025—St. Patrick’s Day of all days. He was perfect in every way, but unfortunately, my recovery was anything but routine. I experienced life-threatening complications after my delivery that took nearly 10 weeks to recover from.
While trying to heal physically, I was also caring for a newborn and a toddler, never imagining how dramatically our lives were about to change. Looking back, I wish I would have been more present those first six weeks.
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On May 9, Colton woke up extremely upset around 2 a.m. I could not get him to settle, and he threw up his bottle, which immediately concerned me. His belly felt unusually hard, so I decided to give him a bath, hoping that would help. When I took him out of the bathtub, I knew something was wrong.
Colton was pale, his whole body was stiff, and he became extremely lethargic. He was not acting like himself, and his soft spot had become firm and bulging. I texted our pediatrician and asked if Colton could be evaluated that same day.
That’s when everything escalated.
Nothing prepares you for seeing your baby so sick. At that point, my own recovery didn’t matter anymore. Every instinct told me something was terribly wrong with Colton and all I cared about was helping him.
The pediatrician was equally concerned about Colton, and by 10 a.m. we were being rushed to the local hospital. While we waited for the ambulance to arrive, our pediatrician explained that Colton would likely need a lumbar puncture to determine whether he had meningitis.
Hearing that was utterly terrifying. I was alone with my two children, and when the squad picked us up, I had to leave my 16-month-old daughter with our pediatrician and her team of nurses. I will forever be grateful for the way they treated us as family that day.
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‘It Changed the Course of His Life Forever’
Walking into that ER felt like something out of a movie. More than 10 medical professionals surrounded Colton, running tests and calling out instructions. In that moment, I knew this was serious. Colton underwent a spinal tap to confirm meningitis and determine what type of meningitis he had.
We remained in the NICU until around 11 p.m., when Colton experienced his first seizure. He then had to be life-flighted to Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. The flight only took 45 minutes, but my husband and I had to drive there ourselves. It was a two-hour journey, and we had no updates on our son, so we spent the entire time praying that he would still be alive when we arrived. That was the longest two hours of my life.
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At Nationwide Children's Hospital, another spinal tap confirmed Colton had pneumococcal bacterial meningitis. Because of the severity of the infection, the number of seizures he was experiencing, and the medications required to control them, Colton was intubated for approximately nine days. At one point, Colton experienced around 500 seizures in a single day.
There are no words to describe hearing that your healthy baby had suffered severe brain damage. We were grieving the future we thought we’d have while fighting for his life at the same time. It was heartbreaking, overwhelming, and something no parent should ever have to experience.
Colton spent 41 days in Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Since then, he has had more than seven additional hospital admissions, along with countless appointments and surgeries. The infection that nearly took his life also changed the course of his life forever.
Bacterial meningitis changed every aspect of Colton’s life. He is profoundly deaf and legally blind due to cortical visual impairment. He has cerebral palsy affecting all four limbs, hard to control epilepsy with daily seizures, developmental delays, and relies on a G-tube for all input.
What devastates me is that Colton was only two weeks away from beginning his routine vaccinations when he became sick.
‘Every Bit of Progress Means the World’
Since leaving the hospital, Colton’s care has continued with numerous specialists, therapies, surgeries, and ongoing medical management. As we live in a medical resource desert, every specialist appointment requires us to travel two to three hours from home.
Colton receives care from neurology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, audiology, ophthalmology and gastroenterology. He also participates in occupational, physical, speech, vision, and hearing therapies, while continuing treatment for his epilepsy and other complex medical needs.
At 5 months old, he became the youngest patient to receive a cochlear implant at Nationwide Children's Hospital.
We've learned that progress doesn't always look the way you expect it to. One of our most emotional milestones was hearing Colton giggle for the first time. We have learned the smallest milestones are worth celebrating.
Every smile, every response, and every bit of progress means the world to us.
Since May 9, 2025, I have spent more time in hospitals than I have at home with my two children. We call 911 so often that the dispatchers know us by name. This journey has impacted every part of our lives. It has affected my motherhood, my marriage, and our family's daily life.
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I am open about how incredibly difficult being a medical parent is. I’m fortunate to have a mother-in-law who helps care for my toddler and supports us through appointments and hospital admissions. I have a husband who works seven days a week, often 16-hour days, so we can afford to give Colton the best care. Our primary care physician has also made herself deeply involved in Colton’s care, making sure his needs are being met. I have friends who check in on me daily. These are things many people don’t have the luxury of, and I truly believe they’re what help me push to be the best medical mom I can be for Colton.
I hope Colton's story raises awareness about bacterial meningitis and how quickly it can change a child's life. I also hope people understand that disability doesn't define someone's worth. Colton has overcome more in his first year of life than most people will experience in a lifetime, and he continues to show us what true resilience looks like every single day.
Our lives look very different than we imagined, but Colton continues to inspire us every day, and we will never stop fighting alongside him.
I want people to understand that disability can happen to anyone. Colton was born healthy, but in a matter of weeks, a bacterial infection changed everything. Bacterial meningitis can happen quickly, and the consequences can be devastating.
Madison Smith, 25, resides in Findlay, Ohio with her husband and two children. Following Colton’s diagnosis, she has been documenting her family’s experiences on social media (@coltonbeatmeningitis on TikTok) to raise awareness and educate others on the impact of bacterial meningitis.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Charlotte Nisbet and Emma Lee-Sang
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